Battle Stations
Everyone dived to the floor as Talen’s armour turned on the spot, firing blindly. Debris and shrapnel was flying everywhere, bolts of energy destroying everything in their path. The third guard abandoned its tussle with Amity and rushed forwards, reaching for the burst-cannon just as the last remaining drone opened fire on Talen. The ganger turned, one of his flailing arms accidentally batting the Tau warrior into the drone’s line of fire. The bolts strafed up the Tau’s back and she tumbled forward, landing on her face. The drone prepared to fire until it was destroyed by a well-aimed shot from Amity’s beamer.
‘Zelia!’ Talen thundered through the battlesuit’s vox. ‘Help me!’
Zelia looked across to Amity. ‘Captain. Give me your beamer!’
The rogue trader scoffed. ‘In your dreams.’
‘Just do it!’
Amity threw her pistol over, and Zelia caught the weapon, turning to aim straight at Fleapit’s cage. If anyone could help Talen, it was their furry friend.
She fired, but the bolt went wide, smashing into the ceiling instead.
‘Again,’ Amity shouted above the clamour of Talen’s armour. ‘You can do it!’
Her hands trembling, Zelia lined up her shot and pulled the trigger. This time the bolt sliced through the chain, and the cage tumbled to the ground. It bounced once, the door springing open. Fleapit leapt from his enclosure, landing on the battlesuit’s shoulders. As the armour wheeled around, Fleapit went to work, yanking handfuls of cables from its innards.
‘Stop!’ boomed dozens of mechanical voices from the reception hall. Zelia looked around to see the rest of Lightbringer’s battlesuits advancing on Talen, burst-cannons raised.
More by luck than judgement, Talen managed to turn and fire, hitting the first battlesuit to come through the door. It burst apart, but there was no one inside! The armour collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been atomised.
‘They’re automated,’ Zelia realised.
‘That doesn’t make them any less dangerous,’ Amity cried, scrambling over to the doorway. She took one door, Zelia taking the other, and they pushed with all their might. The doors were heavier than they looked, but eventually slammed shut, blocking the attack. Amity bolted the lock, and called for Grunt to hold it tight. The servitor lumbered over, bracing himself against the doors.
Behind them, the chest of Talen’s stolen battlesuit whirred open and the ganger clambered out, dripping with sweat.
‘Remind me never to do that again,’ he said as he flopped to the ground.
Zelia ran up to him and threw her arms around him. ‘I thought we’d never see you again.’
Talen looked embarrassed before returning the hug. ‘As if you’d get rid of me that easily.’
‘If you could leave the reunions for a less perilous moment,’ Amity said, as metal fists pounded on the doors. ‘Where’s Lightbringer?’
The Tau was nowhere to be seen. ‘She must have escaped when we weren’t looking,’ Zelia said.
‘Which means there’s another way out,’ Amity said, prowling around the walls. ‘We need to find it before those suits break down the doors.’
‘And if we can’t?’ Talen asked.
Amity glanced at Fleapit, who was still elbow-deep in cables. ‘Then you better pray the ape can get your suit working again.’
‘He’s not an ape,’ Talen snapped. ‘And even if he can, I’m not getting back in that thing. No way.’
‘Why were you even in it?’ Zelia asked.
‘I followed Karter when he brought Fleapit to Madame What’s-her-name,’ he told her. ‘I was waiting for the right moment to attack when you lot blundered in and ruined everything.’
‘We didn’t exactly have much choice in the matter,’ Amity said, putting her back to the door to help Grunt.
‘And none of this would have happened if you hadn’t sold Fleapit in the first place,’ Zelia pointed out.
‘It was his idea!’ Talen exclaimed.
‘What?’
From the top of the battlesuit, Fleapit whooped and chattered in agreement.
‘You were in this together?’
‘We had a plan. I was going to rescue Fleapit as soon as Karter had told us about the Emperor’s Seat. We didn’t expect him to sell Fleapit straight away.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us?’
‘Would you have believed me?’ Talen said. ‘Would you have even listened?’
The doors shook as the battlesuits continued to pound their way in.
‘These things won’t last much longer,’ Amity yelled. ‘I hope you’re ready for a fight.’
‘Yes,’ came a voice from behind Zelia. ‘I am.’
Everyone turned to see Mekki standing in the stolen battlesuit.
‘Mekki?’ Zelia asked, staring at the Martian in disbelief. ‘What are you doing?’
The chest-plate closed around Mekki’s body so only his head showed. He looked vaguely ridiculous, framed by the armour’s expansive shoulders.
‘There is no way a human could pilot a Tau battlesuit correctly,’ Mekki said.
Talen put his hands on his hips. ‘I’d like to see you do better.’
‘Then it is your lucky day, Talen Stormweaver.’ Mekki glanced up at Fleapit, who was still perched on the armour’s shoulders while the servo-sprite checked the suit’s seals. Mekki nodded and Fleapit lowered the Tau helmet over the Martian’s pale head. The helm clicked into place and its three red lenses flared into life. The battlesuit’s hydraulics hissed and Mekki raised its arms, burst-cannons ready to fire.
‘Ready?’ Amity called up to him.
‘Ready,’ came the amplified reply.
Amity and Grunt ran from the doors as they blasted open, the bolt snapping in its lock. Lightbringer’s automated army marched forwards, but Mekki opened fire, sending a volley of crimson bolts slamming into the attackers.
The battlesuits responded, but Mekki’s weapons were stronger. One by one, the battlesuits fell beneath Mekki’s superior firepower. Zelia gripped the handle of Amity’s blaster. This was going to work. They were going to get away.
‘Cease firing, now!’
Madame Lightbringer’s commanding voice cut through the battle. Zelia turned to see the Tau with the bodyguard’s blade at Fleapit’s throat. She hadn’t escaped after all, but had been hiding until the moment was right.
‘Mekki, do what she says,’ Zelia called out, never taking her eyes from the Tau.
The battlesuit’s cannons fell silent.
‘A wise choice,’ Lightbringer sneered. ‘I would hate to destroy my own property, especially after I paid so much for him.’
Fleapit bared his teeth, but didn’t respond. There was no telling if Lightbringer would make good on her threat.
‘You fought well,’ the Tau told them, ‘but you lost, and now you all will die.’
‘For the Greater Good?’ Zelia asked.
‘For my good,’ Lightbringer replied. ‘Take aim!’
The Tau’s remaining battlesuits turned their weapons on the humans.
‘You might want to save your energy,’ Amity called out, holding up her hands. ‘There’s an even bigger battle on the horizon, one you’ll never win.’
Lightbringer frowned. The captain hadn’t raised her hands in surrender. She was making sure that everyone could see the ring on her index finger. The ring that was flashing.
‘What is that?’ the Tau hissed.
The captain glanced down. ‘Oh, this? It’s nothing much. Just a present from a friend.’ A sly smile crept over her face. ‘A friend in the Tau High Command.’
Lightbringer’s nose-slit flared. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that while Zelia might not know who to contact in the Tau Empire, I have friends in very high places. The ethereals of Dal’yth knew that someone was selling Tau secrets to their enemies, and so hired a free agent to track down the traitor.’ She waved her fingers.
‘A free agent with a hidden vox,’ Zelia said, looking at the flashing ring.
‘And nothing to lose,’ Amity confirmed. She glanced at her hand. ‘By the look of things, the ethereals have got the message.’
The outpost shuddered, the rumble of multiple explosions reverberating through the station.
‘People of Hinterland,’ an alien voice boomed over every vox-caster at once. ‘Your trading post has been claimed by the Tau Empire for the Greater Good of all. Put down your weapons and surrender.’
The announcement was followed by the sound of distant cannons. The trading post’s inhabitants were fighting back. The station rocked, the deck lurching beneath their feet. Zelia could hear las-fire on the deck below, saw flashes of light through the reception hall’s viewports.
Madame Lightbringer didn’t hang around to be captured. Dropping the blade, she ran for the elevator, her gowns billowing as she leapt over fallen battlesuits and downed drones.
‘Zelia,’ Amity shouted. ‘My beamer.’
Zelia threw the las-pistol at the captain, who caught it and turned, aiming at the Tau merchant’s back. She pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire.
‘The power pack’s exhausted!’ She turned to Mekki. ‘Your turn, Tech-Head.’
‘No,’ Talen said, his stolen bolas already spinning above his head. ‘Leave this one to me.’ He released the straps and the stones whirled towards Lightbringer. The Tau cried out as the leather thongs wrapped around her legs and she tumbled to the ground.
Lightbringer rolled onto her back and tried desperately to untangle the straps.
‘Going somewhere?’
She looked up to see the crew of the Profiteer standing over her. The armour-clad Mekki loomed over them all, his arm-cannon pulsing with energy.
‘What are you going to do to me?’ the Tau asked.
Zelia smiled. ‘I think Fleapit has an idea about that.’
There was a grinding noise from behind, and Lightbringer looked down to see the Jokaero dragging his dented cage towards her, its door open… for now.